This invention relates to game playing methods for gaming machines such as video slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing player tracking services and related gaming services on a gaming machine.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are player tracking units, lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, such as button pads and levers, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play.
After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game. A game outcome presentation may utilize many different visual and audio components such as flashing lights, music, sounds and graphics. The visual and audio components of the game outcome presentation may be used to draw a players attention to various game features and to heighten the players interest in additional game play. Maintaining a game player""s interest in game play, such as on a gaming machine or during other gaming activities, is an important consideration for an operator of a gaming establishment.
One related method of gaining and maintaining a game player""s interest in game play are player tracking programs which are offered at various casinos. Player tracking programs provide rewards to players that typically correspond to the player""s level of patronage (e.g., to the player""s playing frequency and/or total amount of game plays at a given casino). Player tracking rewards may be free meals, free lodging and/or free entertainment. These rewards may help to sustain a game player""s interest in additional game play during a visit to a gaming establishment and may entice a player to visit a gaming establishment to partake in various gaming activities.
In general, player tracking programs may be applied to any game of chance offered at a gaming establishment. In particular, player tracking programs are very popular with players of mechanical slot gaming machines and video slot gaming machines. In a gaming machine, a player tracking program is implemented using a player tracking unit installed in the gaming machine and in communication with a remote player tracking server. Player tracking units are usually manufactured as an after-market device separate from the gaming machine. Many different companies manufacture player tracking units as part of player tracking/accounting systems. These player tracking/accounting systems are used in most casinos. Most casinos utilize only one type of player tracking system (i.e. from one manufacturer) while the type of player tracking system varies from casino to casino.
Player tracking cards and player tracking programs are becoming more and more popular. They have become a de facto marketing method of doing business at casinos. The programs allow a casino to identify and reward customers based upon their previous game play history. In particular, a goal of the casinos is to identify and then to provide a higher level of service to certain groups of players identified as especially valuable to the casinos. An incentive of a casino for providing these services is to generate xe2x80x9cbrandxe2x80x9d loyalty, and thus, repeat business from its valued customers. For instance, players that visit the casino, on average, once a week may be deemed as xe2x80x9cspecialxe2x80x9d customers and the casino may desire to cultivate a xe2x80x9cspecialxe2x80x9d relationship with these customers. In general, the selection of gaming services offered to players via loyalty programs, such as player tracking programs, is increasing. Also, the gaming services offered to a particular player are becoming more focused based upon the desires of a particular player.
In the past, player tracking units have been primarily designed to allow a player to enter a magnetic striped card and possibly enter an identification code using a key pad. Therefore, the player tracking unit interface, which has been designed to perform these tasks, typically includes a key pad, a card reader and a simple display such as an LED. Thus, a disadvantage of current player tracking units is that the player interface is not necessarily suited for providing increasingly complex and diverse gaming services to game players that are customized to an individual player""s preferences.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for a player tracking unit interface that allows a diverse range of gaming services to be offered to a player playing a game on a gaming machine.
This invention addresses the needs indicated above by providing a player tracking unit with a touch screen display with a touch screen controller integrated into the touch screen sensor assembly. Game service interfaces may be presented on the touch screen display that allow a user to obtain one or more game services. The game service interfaces may include buttons with alpha-numeric symbols, function keys and hand-writing recognition capabilities that are recognized using input data from the touch screen sensor. Thus, with the touch screen sensor, a user may navigate through the game service interface and supply gaming information required to obtain a game service. In one embodiment, a registration game service interface is provided with the player tracking unit that allows a player to join a player tracking program at the gaming machine. In another embodiment, a metering game service interface with a calculator is provided that allows a casino operator to obtain and operate on metering information at a gaming machine.
One aspect of the present invention provides a player tracking unit. The player tracking unit may be generally characterized as including: 1) a display; 2) a touch screen mounted over the display; 3) one or more of the following player tracking interface devices: a card reader, a bonus button, a microphone, a sound projection device, a camera, a wireless interface device, a proximity sensor, a key pad, a bar-code reader, an illumination device and a finger print reader; 4) a logic device designed or configured; a) to communicate with the display, the touch screen, the one or more player tracking interface devices, a master gaming controller that controls a game played on a gaming machine and a player tracking server and b) to execute gaming logic; and gaming logic for generating a key pad interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input buttons on the key pad interface. The touch screen may include a touch screen sensor, a touch screen assembly enclosing the touch screen sensor; and a touch screen controller integrated into the touch screen assembly. When one of the player tracking devices is an illumination device, the illumination device may be illuminated to signal a casino service representative to register a player to a loyalty program.
In particular embodiments, the touch screen sensor is at least one of a capacitive touch screen sensor, a resistive touch screen sensor and an acoustic wave touch screen sensor. The touch screen may be activated using a finger or a stylus. The display used with the touch screen may be at least one of a LED display, a LCD display, such as a color LCD, a plasma display, a CRT or any other conventional display technology. In one embodiment, the resolution of the display may be 320 pixels by 240 pixels. However, the resolution of the display may be higher or lower than 320 by 240 pixels.
In other embodiments, the input buttons on the key pad interface may be selected from the group consisting of alphabetic symbols, numeric symbols and functional The input buttons on the key pad interface may be used to input player tracking identification information such as PIN number or may be used to order a drink. The input buttons may be rendered in 3-D, animated, shaded in color and combinations thereof. The alphabetic symbols may be selected from one or more alphabets. The functional symbols may be animated. Further, when one of the player tracking interface devices is a sound projection device and when the input signals for at least one of the input buttons is received, a sound may be emitted from a sound projection device.
The player tracking unit may use many different communication interfaces and communication protocols. For instance, the player tracking unit may include an Ethernet interface used to communicate with remote devices. The logic device on the player tracking unit may communicate with the master gaming controller using at least one of USB, Firewire, RS-232, IrDA and IEE1394. In addition, the logic device may communicate with master gaming controller using a wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11x (e.g. other IEEE 802.11 standards such as IEEE 802.11c, IEEE 802.11d, IEEE 802.11e, etc.), hiperlan/2, and HomeRF. Further, the logic device may be designed or configured to communicate with touch screen using at least one of a USB communication standard, an IEEE 1394 communication standard, a PS/2 communication standard or a Firewire communication standard.
In yet other embodiments, the player unit may include gaming logic for: a) generating a game interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the game interface where the game interface is used to play a game, b) generating a bonus game interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the bonus game interface where the bonus game interface is used to present a bonus game, c) generating a writing interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to game information written on the writing interface and recognizing alpha-numeric characters corresponding to the game information written on the writing interface, d) generating a loyalty program account interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the loyalty program account interface where the loyalty program account interface is used to view loyalty program account information, e) generating a metering information interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the metering information interface where the metering information interface is used to view metering information from the gaming machine, f) generating a loyalty program registration interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the loyalty program registration interface where the loyalty program registration interface is used to register a person in a loyalty program, g) generating an entertainment content interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the entertainment content interface wherein the entertainment content interface is used to select an entertainment content source to be displayed on the display, h) generating a prize redemption interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the prize redemption interface where the prize redemption interface is used to redeem, i) generating a calculator interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the calculator interface where the calculator interface is used to perform arithmetic operations, j) generating a diagnostic interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the diagnostic interface where the diagnostic interface is used to obtain status information for gaming device on the gaming machine, k) generating a web interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the web interface wherein the web interface is used to view web pages on the Internet, l) generating a reservation interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the reservation interface where the reservation interface is used to make a reservations for at least one of food, lodging and entertainment, m) generating a communication interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the communication interface where the communication interface is used to communicate with another person, n) generating an account interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input buttons on the account interface where the account interface is used to transfer funds to a banking account.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a gaming machine. The gaming machine may be generally characterized as including: i) a master gaming controller designed or configured to control one or more games played on the gaming machine and to execute gaming logic and ii) a player tracking unit. The player tracking unit may be generally characterized as including: 1) a display, 2) a touch screen mounted over the display; 3) one or more of the following player tracking interface devices: a card reader, a bonus button, a microphone, a sound projection device, a camera, a wireless interface device, a proximity sensor, a bar-code reader, an illumination device and a finger print reader; 4) a logic device designed or configured; a) to communicate with the display, the touch screen, the one or more player tracking interface devices, a master gaming controller that controls a game played on a gaming machine and a player tracking server and b) to execute gaming logic; and 5) gaming logic for generating a key pad interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input buttons on the key pad interface. The one or more games played on the gaming machine may be selected from but are not limited to the group consisting of video slot games, mechanical slot games, video black jack games, video poker games, video keno games, video pachinko games, video card games, video games of chance and combinations thereof.
In particular embodiments, the master gaming controller may be designed or configured to operate one or more of the player tracking interface devices, the display and the touch screen. In addition, at least one of the logic device and the master gaming controller may be designed or configured to communicate with a portable wireless device such as personal digital assistant. The player tracking unit may send loyalty program information to the portable wireless device and receives loyalty program information from the portable wireless device. The logic device and the master gaming controller may communicate with the portable wireless device using a wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11x (e.g. other IEEE 802.11 standards such as IEEE 802.11c, IEEE 802.11d, IEEE 802.11e, etc.), hiperlan/2, and HomeRF. Also, the master gaming controller and the logic device communicate may communicate with each other using a wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11x (e.g. other IEEE 802.11 standards such as IEEE 802.11c, IEEE 802.11d, IEEE 802.11e, etc.), hiperlan/2, and HomeRF or a wire communication protocol such as USB, IEE1394, RS-232 and Firewire.
In particular embodiments, the logic device or the master gaming controller may execute gaming logic for: a) generating a game interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the game interface where the game interface is used to play a game, b) generating a bonus game interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the bonus game interface where the bonus game interface is used to present a bonus game, c) generating a writing interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to game information written on the writing interface and recognizing alpha-numeric characters corresponding to the game information written on the writing interface, d) generating a loyalty program account interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the loyalty program account interface where the loyalty program account interface is used to view loyalty program account information, e) generating a metering information interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the metering information interface where the metering information interface is used to view metering information from the gaming machine, f) generating a loyalty program registration interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the loyalty program registration interface where the loyalty program registration interface is used to register a person in a loyalty program, g) generating an entertainment content interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the entertainment content interface wherein the entertainment content interface is used to select an entertainment content source to be displayed on the display, h) generating a prize redemption interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the prize redemption interface where the prize redemption interface is used to redeem, i) generating a calculator interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the calculator interface where the calculator interface is used to perform arithmetic operations, j) generating a diagnostic interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the diagnostic interface where the diagnostic interface is used to obtain status information for gaming device on the gaming machine, k) generating a web interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the web interface wherein the web interface is used to view web pages on the Internet, l) generating a reservation interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the reservation interface where the reservation interface is used to make a reservations for at least one of food, lodging and entertainment, m) generating a communication interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input areas on the communication interface where the communication interface is used to communicate with another person, n) generating an account interface on the display and receiving input signals from the touch screen corresponding to input buttons on the account interface where the account interface is used to transfer funds to a banking account.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a player tracking system. The player tracking system may be generally characterized as including: 1) a player tracking server; 2) a plurality of gaming machines, and 3) a network designed or configured to allow communication between the plurality of gaming machines and the player tracking server. The gaming machines in the player tracking system may be generally characterized as including a) a master gaming controller designed or configured to control one or more games played on the gaming machine and to execute gaming logic; b) a player tracking unit and c) gaming logic for generating a key pad interface on a display located on the player tracking unit and receiving input signals from a touch screen located on the player tracking unit corresponding to input buttons on the key pad interface. The player tracking units on the gaming machines may be generally characterized as including: i) a display, ii) a touch screen mounted over the display; iii) one or more of the following player tracking interface devices: a card reader, a bonus button, a microphone, a sound projection device, a camera, a wireless interface device, a proximity sensor, a bar-code reader, an illumination device and a finger print reader; iv) a logic device designed or configured to communicate with the display, the touch screen, the one or more player tracking interface devices, a master gaming controller that controls a game played on a gaming machine and a player tracking server and to execute gaming logic.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of generating one or more game services on a gaming machine using a touch screen display mounted in a player tracking unit. The method may be generally characterized as including 1) displaying a key pad interface with a plurality of input buttons to the touch screen display; 2) receiving one or more first input signals from a touch screen wherein each input signal corresponds to a selection of one of the plurality of input buttons on the key pad interface; 3) displaying a list of game services on the touch screen display; 4) receiving a second input signal from the touch screen that contains information indicating a selected game service from the list of game services; 5) displaying a game service interface with a plurality of input buttons to the touch screen display wherein the input buttons may be used to provide the selected game service; and 6) receiving a plurality of third input signals from the touch screen wherein the plurality of third input signals are used to select input buttons on the game service interface. The game service may be selected but are not to the group consisting of: a) playing a game, b) playing a bonus game, c) registering a player to loyalty program, d) displaying gaming machine metering information, e) performing arithmetic operations, f) making a reservation, g) providing gaming machine diagnostic information, h) displaying loyalty account information, i) redeeming a prize, j) making a food, lodging or entertainment reservation, k) communicating with another person, l) providing a web-based service, m) providing a banking transaction and n) machine diagnostics.
In particular embodiments, the method may also include: a) initiating a loyalty program session, b) detecting an input signal to initiate a loyalty program session, c) validating an identity of a user of the player tracking unit and varying the list of game services according to the identity of the user, d) displaying a hand-writing interface to the touch screen display and receiving written input from the hand-writing interface on the touch screen where the touch screen is activated using a finger or a stylus and e) providing a receipt.
Another aspect of the invention pertains to computer program products including a machine-readable medium on which is stored program instructions for implementing any of the methods described above. Any of the methods of this invention may be represented as program instructions and/or data structures, databases, etc. that can be provided on such computer readable media such as smart card, compact flash memory card, memory stick, RAM, CD-ROM, CD-DVD, hard drive, etc.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be spelled out in more detail below with reference to the associated drawings.